Manganese bronze and alloy of commerce



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;-

ALFRED Ii. OOVVLES AND EUGENE I-l. OOVVLES, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

MANGANESE BRONZE AND ALLOY OF COMMERCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 415,832, dated November26, 1889. Application filed October 3, 1888. Serial No. 287,094. (Nospecimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALFRED l1. COWLES and EUGENE H. OowLEs, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga andState of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inManganese Bronzes and Alloys of Commerce; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertaius tomake and use the same.

\Vhat we term the manganese alloys of commerce are alloys of manganese,copper, tin, zinc, and iron, as follows: manganese and copper;manganese, copper, and iron; manganese, copper, and zinc; manganese,copper, zinc, and iron; manganese and tin; manganese, tin, and iron;manganese, tin, zinc, and iron.

Great dilficulty is experienced in casting these manganese alloys, themet-a1 coming from the sand spongy and full of blow-holes, similar tothose that occur in steel. The castings are thereby weakened and arerendered less valuable for use in the arts. They are also found tocontain metallic oxides, which have been dissolved in the molten metalsand remain, as a constituent of them, after their solidification in themolds, thereby rendering the castings of less tenacity and toughness andof lower electrical and heat conductivity. Thus great skill is requiredto mix and satisfactorily make these alloys.

Our invention consists in the addition of from one-thirtieth to five percentum of aluminium to any and all of these alloys prior to castingthereof. It requires but a fraction of a per centum. of aluminium addedor melted with the other constituents to free the metal from blow-holesand to reduce the metallic oxides that otherwise go into solution in themetal. From one to five per centum of aluminium added to these alloys inevery case increases their tensile strength and in many cases theirtoughness. On an average, testbars containing from one to five percentum of aluminium will show fifty per centum greater strength than theduplicates with the aluminium omitted. The elastic limits are elevatedand rendered more distinct and similar in their nature to thewell-marked elastic limit in steel. The resilience is increased. Ifaluminium is present, these metals when cast come from the sand with aclean bright surface, no sand-scale adhering to the casting to beremoved. This is due to the aluminium preventing the oxidation of thebase metals when the alloy is molten. These metallic oxides on thesurface tend to flux the sand and cause it to adhere to the casting. Thealuminium further renders these alloys more fluid and sharper castingsare secured, and the metals with the aluminium present are morepermanent and silver-like in theirluster and less subject to corrosion,will take a higher polish, and are much whiter than without thealuminium. Again, aluminium aids these alloys when iron is present, asin the case of the bronzes made from ferro-manganesethecheapest sourceof manganese to absorb and incorporate the iron in the alloy, so thatlarger percentages of iron may be used to cheapen the alloy.

In adding the aluminium to these alloys the requisite amount of purealuminium may be added; or, first, any alloy of manganese and aluminium,or of copper and aluminium, or of tin and aluminium, or of zinc andaluminium, or of iron and aluminium, or .a mixture of these metalsprepared with the proper amountof aluminium, and any one of theseprepared alloys added to the other ingredicuts in the proper proportionsto give the desired alloy.

\Vhat we claim is- 1. The process which consists in forming alloys ofmanganese and adding a small percentage of aluminium to such alloys, asherein described, prior to casting, as set forth.

2. The process which consists in forming alloys of manganese and addingfrom a trace to five per centuin of aluminium to such alloys to increasetheir strength, elasticity, and facility of casting and diminish theirtendency to corrosion and to add to their silverlike luster andwhiteness, substantially as set forth. 4

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

ALFRED H. COVLES. EUGENE H. COWVLES.

Witnesses to the signature of Alfred E. Cowles: V

HIRAM A. TUCKER,

THEODORE STEVENS.

Vitnesses to the signature of Eugene H. Cowles:

- E. T. LOUGHBOROUGH,

H. M. SHAW.

